This studio rough mix of “Feel Like a Stranger,” from the 1979 sessions for Go to Heaven, shows us a very different lyric from the final version. These words seem more clearly set in a romantic/sexual encounter; the completed song does a magnificent job of portraying the moment as a description of life onstage with the Grateful Dead – or an encounter on a dance floor. That’s the magic of great songs! You get to fill in some of the picture yourself.

Last year’s Dead & Company shows are available for download (etc) at livedead.co; information and tickets for the upcoming tour are at deadandcompany.com

Support for the Grateful Dead Hour comes this week from:

Love Some Tea – grown and harvested naturally in Northern Thailand by the Hmong Hilltribe people. These plantation-free teas are flavored by hand, with all natural ingredients. Love Some Tea is sustainable hand-grown tea, and all the founders are Deadheads.

Rob Catterton, announcing A Grand Piano Tribute to the Grateful Dead, an album of thoughtful and unique solo-piano interpretations of ten Grateful Dead favorites. A Grand Piano Tribute to the Grateful Dead by Rob Catterton is available on iTunes, Amazon, and CDBaby.

Dead and Company – Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, John Mayer, Jeff Chimenti and Oteil Burbridge – on tour from coast to coast May 27 through July 1. Complete details and ticketing at www.deadandcompany.com. That’s Dead and Company, on tour from May 27 through July 1.

Garcia’s at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. On Wednesday, January 25, Dave Hebert of Melvin Seals and JGB and Greg Koerner of Vince Welnick, DSO, and Gent Treadly are Bear Tread, an exciting new tribute to the music of the Grateful Dead. Events, information, and ticketing at thecapitoltheatre.com.